Now that I have your undivided attention. So why do so many people who
live here want to move away? Now honestly, if that's what you want to do, SCRAM! Columbus will still be here when you're dead broke,and need to crash on my couch. So, Columbus what are the "so called" pros and cons of living in the "Buckeye state".
Discuss...
A.Perkins

Columbus, OH is pretty decent, location-wise if you're in a working band that doesn't mind traveling. Within 2 hours drive you've got Akron, Cleveland, Dayton, and Cincinnati. Within 3 hours you have Pittsburgh, Huntington WV, Indianapolis, and Detroit. Within 6 hours you have Chicago. Not to mention all the smaller towns around and about starving for entertainment.

I've thought of moving away, but that move would be more of a get-out-before-I'm-arrested-for-not-carrying-my-papers kind of move, i.e. out of the country.

I'm sure to a certain extent it's a "grass is always greener" situation, and I think we've made vast improvement over the last 1-2 years but columbus is still pretty fucking crappy in terms of the selection of touring bands that make a stop here.

_________________Q: Is there room in this world for organized religion of any kind?

Warren Ellis: I have a soft spot for it. It's the compost bin at the end of my garden. And there's plenty of room in there for it.

Any Pros?
Like...The Columbus Metro Library which proudly accepts and circulates works
from local artists.(#1) in the country I might add. Oh,we are currently accepting submissions if anyones interested.
Um... Any venue willing to let local artist perform soley on a "walk in" basis.
Residents who are aware of the effect of "Global Capitalism" and it's impact on what we once called "Democracy".
The Alive for continuing to spot-light the arts and music in this community. -Stephen, you owe me for that one!
Joel Treadway @ Cringe who's actually been around before donewaiting, letting us know what's going down locally.
MonsterMovies,Evil Queens, The Sun, The Squares, and any other house where I hear a band practicing for their opening date at (your club name or house party here).
Otherwise, this place sucks, I guess.

Columbus does not get the kind of national big time culture that most cities do (although if you look there is more than you think). What I always thought people in Columbus were good at was creating that for ourselves. There are a lot of alt venues, bars that present local original music, galleries, and activist and community groups here that provide access to cultural life in this city.

I grew up and have lived here for 34 years and found that if I want big-city culture I just visit a big city for vacation. If I want to participate in culture in town it doesn't take much to get involved and there are lots of folks here who are willing to meet you more than halfway to do it.

Um... Any venue willing to let local artist perform soley on a "walk in" basis.

Most seem willing to do this for weeknight gigs. I never had too much bad luck scoring a gig around here with my band even when we were starting, but it took about 2 years of playing before we finally started getting booked on weekends around here. And it probably helped that I already had at least a bit of a track record, to be honest.

Of course, you can get the good gigs right away if you've got the right member(s) in your brand new band. Unfortunate in a way, but true. But I'm probably just as guilty of "getting to know the right people to get gigs" as anyone.

It's affordable, most of my family is here, the real estate market is ripe with opportunity, the culture is fine. It's the right size city for me. If it were any bigger then we would have Arnold Classic-style mobs that freak me out but it would be every weekend instead of every so often. I like that it can be sleepy at times and rowdy at others.

Yes, and YES the library rocks it! I never knew how good we had it until my sister moved to Chapel Hill. They have to pay for library cards and the selection sucks.

I agree Tom, if I want big city I will visit those places. If you think about it, would you really want to live in most of the places you go to vacation? I wouldn't. It loses its appeal and then where would you go to vacation?

I dunno. We have our flaws but if I have to live in the US then I'm more than okay with Columbus. It's not to say that I won't someday leave, too, but I have no solid reasons to diss it or flee from it.

It does seem true that lots of great people leave Columbus to seek greener pastures and lots of them come back. It's easy to live here. Maybe I'm just lazy. I love to travel and I never mind coming home when I do.

hahaha.
maybe 15 years ago we had every band that was worth seeing stopping here - thank god™ for stache's. now, not so much, though i'll totally admit i've seen a handful of great touring bands i'd never heard of in the past few months thanks to the high five - but that situation's about to change and certainly not many of those bands are gonna think seriously about coming back with the attendance at their shows as paltry as it was.
Pros:
when the weather is nice, it's really nice. (con: that's like 6 days a year.)
cheap, excellent recording studios. (wink.)
bars that are easy to get a show at even if yer unknown. (file under con as well.)
skateparks out the wazoo.
hiphop in the 614. dangerzone, y'all!

_________________I'm not saying "faggy" because I﻿ don't like homosexuals, I happen to be a huge fan of Rob Halford, Ian Mckellen, and I'm pretty sure Kurt Cobain even said that he might be bisexual, hell I have a bisexual friend. I'm saying "faggy" to describe this guys voice.

Now that I have your undivided attention. So why do so many people who live here want to move away? Now honestly, if that's what you want to do, SCRAM! Columbus will still be here when you're dead broke,and need to crash on my couch. So, Columbus what are the "so called" pros and cons of living in the "Buckeye state".Discuss...A.Perkins

As an out-of-towner who moved to Columbus by choice, I can honestly say this city has pretty nice combination of affordability (both in housing and general cost of living), variety in job market opportunities and, I don't know what you'd call it, but "comfort level" would be the description. Obviously, a lot of things work against the "city" vs. other big cities like Chicago, NY, etc., but I'm taking in the whole inside the 270 belt as Columbus, and here you don't feel on top of people all the time, which can be a bit annoying if that's not your thing.

Having lived in Cleveland and Buffalo, two older "rust belt" towns that have a bit more historical culture, I honestly believe that Columbus makes up for it against similar sized cities in terms of the arts, music, entertainment, dining, etc. because of the variety.

And about being a "red state," that's only by a few percentage points one way or the other. We're not freaking Utah.

I love Columbus. easily the best city in Ohio. I'm a lifer. I just bought the house that I will die in.

PROS: We have hands-down the best street in America (High St.), the COTA, support for the arts, good colleges, good ARTS colleges, a lot of public activism, different villages of ethnicity (German, Italian, etc.), a diverse spectrum of clubs (from Outland to the Newport to Garrett's), what the Alive was, donewaiting.com, a pro soccer team, Comfest, the Wexner Center, Studio 35, good skate parks, a Budwesier plant, and lots of good parks for my dog. And it's central location makes for good touring.

CONS: Mark Hyman is on TV, the endless building of new malls, and a lot of people who live here bash it instead of trying to make things better (but that's probably rampant everywhere).

up until december i lived an hour nw of downtown chicago. although there's much to love about that city, try going out, and spending $20 for parking. yes i know chicago has great public transportation, but, it's really only a convenience if you're already close to/in the city.

Pro: Columbus has a great mix of the best parts of big city and small town mentalities.

this is the city i grew up in, columbus. my folks moved around a bunch as a kid, but always in columbus, so i've lived in damn near every part of town. i went to four different school systems in town and the 'burbs. i know this city like the back of a cab driver's hand. after dropping out of OSU in 89 i've lived in about a dozen cities including clearwater, fla; detroit; east lansing, mi; buffalo; niagra, can; brooklyn and cinci. i ALWAYS move back to columbus after i realize that this place is just soooo much easlier a life than i have in any other place i've lived, and i never really feel like i'm missing out on anything that i can't get here. yeah, some things are BETTER elsewhere, but nothing's unavailable . . .

i'll probably live here until i become so bitter and crotchety that i can no longer stand seeing the amount of people that i see in a city, and move out to arches, utah or somewhere and live in a fucking cave . . .

this is the city i grew up in, columbus. my folks moved around a bunch as a kid, but always in columbus, so i've lived in damn near every part of town. i went to four different school systems in town and the 'burbs. i know this city like the back of a cab driver's hand. after dropping out of OSU in 89 i've lived in about a dozen cities including clearwater, fla; detroit; east lansing, mi; buffalo; niagra, can; brooklyn and cinci. i ALWAYS move back to columbus after i realize that this place is just soooo much easlier a life than i have in any other place i've lived, and i never really feel like i'm missing out on anything that i can't get here. yeah, some things are BETTER elsewhere, but nothing's unavailable . . .

i'll probably live here until i become so bitter and crotchety that i can no longer stand seeing the amount of people that i see in a city, and move out to arches, utah or somewhere and live in a fucking cave . . .